Biagio Mastroianni – La Smorfia
The painter and printmaker Biagio Mastroianni was born in Luzern in 1969. After his education as a photolithographer he studied visual communication at the Lucerne University of Applied Sciences and Arts and gaining a degree as an illustrator. He is now living and working in Lucerne and in London as a freelance artist and illustrator.
He employs a wide range of print techniques to depict present day dramas– the Lockdown, Riots, the credit crunch, climate change, paintings inspired by Roberto Saviano's Gomorrah 'Land of Fires' (Naples) and the poetry and quietly of the Nature. Many recent Artworks are inspired by the Italian Futurists painters.
Initially Biagio has especially constructed a rich and fascinating narrative, exploring the mystical subtleties of the numerological systems of the Smorfia (In Naples people who are about to buy lottery tickets ask dream interpreters to convert all their experiences during the day and their dreams during the night into numbers) and juxtaxposing these into the stark, and harsh realities of London urban life.
“Art of Being Alone: The Memorable Moments of My Life”
Despite the global pandemic and uncertainty
Transformation- A social-political value
Lockdown Tins
This is the world in our present time: leading by greed, avidity, horniness, glamour, fighting spirit and adoration of false myth and folk’s tale. The figurative expressive grimaces with anger, rage, disbelief, scepticism, admiration and hate, characterized by hard, fixed gaze and it accompanies combative gesture. Orange and red are the dominant colours. This highly pessimistic interpretation of our present time of a big city, stressing the alienation of man as he plunges headlong towards self-destruction.
From the acrylic and oil paintings on carboard and canvas, the transformation of the city from a pessimistic vision in to a more optimistic perspective: “Lockdown Tins”: Well-being, freedom, dreams, poetry and pleasure find expression in smiling, serenity and tranquillity on primed tins of beans, chopped tomatoes, lentils, chickpeas, peas, tuna, artichokes and so on. Day by day the paintings and drawings on tins were created and numerated gradually: Day one, day two, week one and so on. One more reason why I created my “Lockdown Tins” was, that the Art shops during Lockdown were closed. I purchased canned food because of necessity during the pandemic Lockdown and it evolved my Art Installation to a social-political value Art Installation.